Change
by Arwen J Hui
Summary: A new Sec Nav means changes but not all of them are good, especially Alexander Lancaster. kind of follows my Neric timeline. Mild swearing.
1. Chapter 1

**I'm reuploading this because this plotline took on a life of its own and it is much longer than I anticipated. No changes to this chapter except for the opening a/n.**

**Update: I had to re-reupload this chapter because I was a dummy and used an older revision from my Dropbox account rather than exporting the existing chapter from my oneshot mish-mosh thingamajig. l owe SilverSentinal21 a giant cookie.**

**Disclaimer: Blah, blah, I don't own NCIS: LA, blah blah…blah.**

* * *

It was a typical Tuesday morning complete with pleasant coffee aroma clouds wafting through the air and mingling with the general buzz of the Mission and the agents. Eric was up in OPs click-clacking away on his computer, Nell was off modifying a motherboard, Callen and Sam were discussing their cars, and Kensi and Deeks were arguing. But for probably the first time in the team's six year history, they weren't arguing with each other.

"This isn't fair!" Deeks protested.

"I agree," said Kensi as she crossed her arms angrily. "And we never agree. On anything."

"Ever."

"Hetty, is this really necessary?"

"I'm afraid it is, Miss Blye," Hetty said sadly. "Assistant Director Granger insists that these orders be completed by next Monday. I don't like it just as much as you two, but this comes from higher up in the chain of command."

"Is it Director Vance?" Kensi and Deeks asked in unison.

"No, it is not. SecNav gave the order to Director Vance who gave it to Assistant Director Granger who gave it to me. Now, Director Vance managed to buy more time for you two."

"And how's that?" Deeks asked, slouching down in the chair.

"The Secretary of the Navy originally gave you until tomorrow morning." Hetty folded her hands on her desk and sighed. "Please try to understand that changes, most of the time unwanted and unnecessary, come with new administration." The three of them sat in Hetty's office in complete silence for a few minutes, hoping the buzz of the Mission would drown out their thoughts.

"Hetty, you know I don't like new people," Kensi sighed. "Why did it have to be us?"

"It probably has something to do with me being LAPD and not NCIS," Deeks offered. "New Sec Nav probably thinks I'm beneath all of you."

"That most certainly is _not _the reason, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said rather sharply. "And you certainly are not beneath any of us. You're just as good as anyone here, even better than some."

In spite of this major compliment from Hetty, Deeks just huffed and sunk further into his chair. "It's just for a few weeks, right?" he asked.

"From what I'm told, yes, but it's not set in stone."

"I guess we can hack it for a while. What do you think?"

"I guess," Kensi huffed.

"Thank you," Hetty sighed. "Here is the new agent's file. He comes highly recommended by many." Hetty shooed the pair of them out of her office and began to make several angry phone calls.

"Think this new agent will be anywhere as good as me?" Deeks said playfully. "I mean, I know training a rookie agent can be hard but I must have been the fastest learner and I'm not even an agent."

"And your ego has now doubled in size once again," Kensi laughed. "Think there will be enough room in your tiny squad car for it and your new partner?"

"She'll get used to it."

"She? What makes you so sure your new partner is a woman?"

"Because I'm just that good," he said in a semi-sultry voice. This earned him and elbow to the gut.

...

Three weeks passed at an annoyingly slow pace and Kensi had spent the last few days sitting at her desk twirling her pens around in her hand. Her new partner, an Alexander Lancaster, was annoying and uninteresting with a pedantic air about him. Thanks to some discrete digging done by Nell and Eric, they learned that all of this was due to the fact that he was the nephew of the new SecNav. He tried everyday to order Kensi around but she stood her ground and gave it right back to him despite his situation. One day she lost it completely and started to shout at him in the middle of the bullpen.

"I wouldn't give a rat's ass if you were the freaking Pope. You can get off your ass and get yourself some coffee and make your own copies and get your shit from the printer. I outrank you, Alex, and you best respect me or I swear on all that is holy that I will drop kick your ass from here to Sydney without giving it a second thought." She stomped off to the gym but not before knocking down the pile of files that sat in Alex's inbox and shoving his feet off of the desk. Without changing her clothes, Kensi gloved up and began to pummel the sandbag that hung from the ceiling.

It had been a while since Kensi had gotten that angry at anybody. Sam supposed she'd been keeping it all in while Callen was just glad Kensi exploded when she did. If she hadn't, Callen would have shot Alex from his desk without blinking an eye. That certainly would have brightened everyone's day.

Hetty cautiously approached Kensi as she threw punch after punch at the sandbag. She didn't want to tell her this but it was better to tell her while she was engaged in anger release than in an office. "Miss Blye," Hetty called.

"I'm sorry, Hetty, but this really isn't a good time."

"On the contrary, I think this is the perfect time."

"What is it?" Kensi said without stopping her punches.

"I regret to inform you that you will be with Alex for much longer than you anticipated."

Kensi stopped and turned around to face Hetty. "Are you serious?"

"I'm afraid so. And," Hetty said holding up her hand to keep Kensi from protesting, "I am very much aware of that simpleton's situation. It's quite an abuse of power in my opinion." Hetty stepped closer and lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper. "I've already taken it up with the Director and Legal to see if there is any literature that is against this sort of thing." She cleared her throat and motioned for Kensi to continue beating the sandbag.

…

It seemed that Kensi's little outburst lit a fire, granted the smallest of fires, under Alex's ass. He was ordering Kensi and the others around a lot less but his attitude didn't change and he still went out of his way to make everyone miserable. Hetty found nothing so far from her secret team-up with Vance and his legal team but it'd only been a few days; the amount of documents that had to be read was overwhelming and all the confusing and roundabout legal jargon didn't help one bit. The team often heard her cursing in French when they didn't hear Lancaster bragging about anything and everything. Kensi was significantly less tense but now she devoted the time she wasn't working on a case to skulking about the Mission and curling up on the couch and sleeping. She gradually stopped smiling and it became more and more difficult for Callen and Sam to get even a smirk to cross her face. Eventually they stopped trying.

"Hey," Callen said one day. "We miss him, too."

"Yeah," Kensi said glumly as she rolled her pencil back and forth across her desk. "I know."

"Want to go a round on the mats? I promise I won't hold back."

"No, thanks," she replied glumly.

Not wanting to push it, Callen shrugged and walked back to his desk. "I'll be here if you change your mind." He went back to flipping through a file but would glance up at Kensi once in a while to assess her.

The last time G saw her this depressed was after Dom died and she did bounce back from it but she wasn't completely herself. She was a bit more jaded and had a more cynical outlook on everything. When Deeks joined the team, G saw the old Kensi come back. She was happy to have something to do even if it was essentially babysitting the world's greatest pain in the ass. Deeks was a different kind of partner than Dom. While Dom was still young, he knew exactly when he needed to buckle down and work whereas Deeks took a little bit longer than most to focus. Kensi often thought he was more like a young teenage boy than a grown man. He could easily be distracted by a pretty girl and he was always antsy when he had to sit still for an extended period of time like a stakeout but, she could always bring him back with a flick of the ear or a punch to the arm. These boyish traits were what endeared Deeks to Kensi and now that he was gone, she was thoroughly miserable. She already yelled her lungs out at Lancaster more times than she could count and she actually ripped a hole in the sandbag in the gym from the amount of time she spent beating the crap out of it. In short, Kensi was grieving and, at present, she was undeniably stuck in the fourth stage.

Believe it or not, "depressed Kensi" was far more terrifying than "angry Kensi". If you didn't handle her carefully she could blow up in your face like a firecracker you didn't throw away fast enough. Nobody liked seeing her this withdrawn more than Nell so as the second month without Deeks drew to a close, she took the initiative and scheduled her own intervention. On Saturday morning, she strapped in her two year old son, Scott, into his car seat and drove across town to Kensi's house. She rang the doorbell several times and called out for Kensi to answer the door but all of this was in vain so finally she convinced her son to bang on the door.

"AUNT KENSI! AUNT KENSI! AUNT KENSI!" he shouted as he pounded on the door with his little fists. "Let me in!"

Kensi couldn't ignore Scott, not her sweet and adorable godson, so she rolled out of bed and opened the door. "How do you ask?" she asked from behind the screen.

"Please?" Scott asked sweetly. Kensi unlatched the screen and opened it out for Scott who jumped through the threshold and hopped up and down with his arms in the arm for Kensi to pick him up. "Kisses?" he asked. Kensi obliged, picked him up, and planted a kiss on his cheek. "My turn," he said brightly. He leaned forward, kissed Kensi's nose, and for the first time in two months she smiled.

"You play dirty, Nell," Kensi said putting Scott down.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nell said as she helped Scott take off his racecar backpack. He happily dragged it across the living room to the small coffee table and pulled out his crayons and coloring book. "Alright," Nell said, sitting herself down on the couch. "Don't tell me you're fine because I know and you know that you are far from it."

Kensi remained silent and watched Scott as he growled like a dinosaur and colored in a t-rex with a bright purple crayon. _Like Barney_, she thought to herself and she flashed back two years to the time she accidentally turned Deeks' shirts purple. "I looked like Barney the dinosaur," he had complained to Eric. Her mind flashed forward a bit to the night she kissed him at that psych couple's house. For weeks she told herself she did it for the sake of the op, to make him shut up, and she eventually forgot about it but now she wasn't so sure.

"I miss him," Kensi mumbled.

"We all miss him, Kensi," Nell said.

"Yeah, but when do I ever miss him? He's a constant pain in the butt and he never shuts up about anything. Remember the picture of him on a camel?"

Nell laughed and nodded. "Well it's been a few weeks. Absence does make the heart grow fonder, even in this case." Kensi raised an eyebrow at this. "What I mean is you used to see him everyday and now you haven't seen him or talked to him for a while. Your routine is off."

"That makes sense," Kensi said folding her arms and sitting back into the couch.

"Plus, Lancaster's a giant jackass," Nell whispered. "How about this?" she asked in her normal voice. "Why don't you call him and ask him to meet up for coffee or something? You guys can catch up and you can start smiling again." Nell's phone suddenly chimed. "Oh, geez," she sighed as she saw the text message.

"Did Eric break another server?"

"Worse. My sister showed up a day early." Nell sighed and told Scott to pack up his things. "Seriously, Kensi," Nell said as she zipped up Scott's backpack. "Call Deeks."

So she did.

* * *

**Oh, Sandy, you silly hurricane. You took my power and cable and left me with nothing but wonderful books to read. I read **_**Pride and Prejudice**_** for the umpteenth time and then this little chapter came out. I know Kensi seems a little more emotional than she will probably ever be but I like writing Kensi as vulnerable. It's different. Let me know what you think.**

**Hey, hey! It's Keelan! If you can guess my age, I will shower you with the candy of your choice and rainicorns! And give you a cookie! A virtual one that is c: Hint: I am six years younger than AJ! Don't miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Heh c; ~Keelan**


	2. Chapter 2

**Part two, part two, part two! Yay! Also, I never congratulated SilverSentinal21 for guessing Keelan's age correctly! You win a candy and unicorn shower! And a virtual cookie! *confetti* And because I love you all so much, I'm giving you virtual cookies! And cyberhugs! Yay, cyberhugs! (It's 11:30pm and I had regular coffee not too long age so forgive the hyperactivity, please, :D)**

* * *

It'd been a few weeks since Kensi had called Deeks, as per Nell's suggestion, and she was noticeably happier. Spunky, fiesty, stubborn, not-depressed Kensi had returned to OSP with a whole lot less doom and gloom in her step. There was still that one little black cloud looming over her head named Alexander Lancaster but nobody really liked him.

Despite his weekly verbal ass-whuppings from the team and anyone else he managed to piss off, Xander (that was the only nickname he deemed "acceptable") still had that air of superiority and he treated OSP as his own personal playground where he could bully all the other agents. Like all bullies, Lancaster bullied in what he thought was secret. Little did he know, the "Mummified Gremlin" had her ever watchful eyes on him and his performance. She scrutinized every piece of paper that came from him and made him correct his shoddy workmanship multiple times to his extreme dislike. Whenever he opened his mouth to protest, Hetty simply said, "You are an NCIS field agent and I expect high caliber work in all that you do, including your case reports. One small miscount of events can lead to a criminal walking free. It'd be a shame for the country as well as your family if that one error came from you, Mister Lancaster." That made him clamp his mouth shut on the spot until he got back to his desk and muttered angrily as he revised again and again.

One day, Lancaster was in a even more sour mood about his revisions that he started flicking little balls of paper at anyone who walked past the bullpen. He sniggered under his breath like a school boy while Kensi rolled her eyes and gave Callen her ever famous can-I-shoot-him-now face. Callen replied with a long sigh and mimed that his hands were tied. Kensi clasped her hands together and mouthed a very desperate "please". This odd game if charades continued and got to the point where Sam decided to put an end to the childishness and misery once and for all. While everyone headed out to lunch, Sam popped up to Ops.

"Yo, Eric?" Sam called as he stepped into the cool darkness if Ops.

"Yeah," Eric said, waving from behind one of the servers. "What's up?"

"You still in touch with Abby Sciuto?"

"We consult each other on occasion. Why?" He continued fussing with the server while Sam spoke.

"Can you give her a call and ask her if there are any field agent openings in the DC office?"

"Oh, my God. You're not leaving, are you?" Eric asked in a panicked voice.

"It's not for me," Sam assured him. "It's for that little prick downstairs."

Eric let out a sigh of relief. "If we don't want him, what makes you think DC is going to take him? They're not going to put up with - "

"Exactly. They're not going to put up with his crap. What if we can paint a pretty picture of DC for him?" Sam asked as he followed Eric down the row of servers. "There's more political ties so his uncle is bound to have more pull. Hypothetically speaking, if we make DC sound like the right track for him, he transfers, gets chewed up and spat out and everyone's happier."

Eric thought through Sam's plan for a moment and nodded in agreement. "I'll call Abby right now. You know, this is very much on the vindictive side for you, Sam. It's a little surprising."

"I'd rather deal with Kensi and Deeks bickering than Kensi and everyone else yelling at Lancaster," Sam said with shrug. "Besides, I miss watching what your wife calls the 'skinny love saga' unfold."

"You, too, huh?" Eric chuckled.

"I'm a romantic." Sam lightly punched Eric's arm. "Sue me."

...

Early the next morning, before the rest of the team even arrived, Sam presented his proposal to Hetty. She sat back in her chair, mulling it over and sipping her tea, while Sam sat and waited for her answer. "If this works, we will have to get an agent to replace Mister Lancaster until Mister Deeks is allowed to return to us and I can't even guarantee he'll be given that permission."

"Why not?"

"The new Secretary of the Navy is very prejudiced towards outsiders. How he got elected to the position in the first place, I'll never know. He made it very difficult for the Air Force to collaborate with us two months ago and from what the other NCIS field offices are saying, there has been some serious and questionable overhauling occuring. No one is happy."

"Doesn't Director Vance have some say in that, though? He's the director of the entire agency."

"He does but, it's minimal," she said as she poured Sam and herself more tea.

Sam sat back in the antique chair and let out a long sigh. "I guess anyone is better than Lancaster and his pompous a-" Hetty raised an eyebrow. "Attitude," Sam recovered.

"I can sift through the applications for a suitable replacement. If you could please inform Miss Blye that Mister Deeks will not be able to meet her for breakfast later this week, it would be greatly appreciated. I do not need to have her sulking because she thinks he neglected to inform her of his undercover status."

"He's undercover?" Sam asked with a little surprise.

"I like to keep an eye on him and make sure he remains intact. I'd prefer to have him back here as such. After all," Hetty said, peering over the top of her glasses, "what is a love story with just one person?"

Sam's expression was a mix of surprise and puzzlement. He opened his mouth to say, "You, too?" but Hetty answered before his brain could tell his jaw muscles to contract.

"I am just as fond of romances as I am of tragedies, Mister Hanna." She waived Sam out of her office and immediately dialed her phone. "Hetty Lange for Director Vance, dear... Thank you... Leon, it's good to hear you. I've a proposal for you regarding the Lancaster situation if you're willing to hear it."

...

Much to everyone's joy, Lancaster was out with a bad case of "food poisoning" for the day. There was a rumor floating around that one of the probies may or may not have slipped an entire bottle of eye drops into his coffee. Nobody really cared about the "who" or the "how"; everyone was just glad he was out. The normal, jovial atmosphere quickly returned as news of Lancaster's compromised gastrointestinal integrity spread through OSP at near-sonic speed.

Some people were a little too happy with Lancaster's absence, specifically Kensi. As soon as Sean Reyes, one of Eric's analysts, stumbled into the bullpen to deliver the news, Kensi shot out of her chair and sat herself down at Lancaster's desk. She pulled out the center drawer and rummaged through the contents paying no mind to Callen's confused expression or Sam's disapproving look. Both men shook there heads and went back to reading their case files as Kensi rifled through every drawer.

"I knew it!" Kensi scowled. "That bastard."

"You're going to have to be more specific," Callen said without looking up from his file. "We know quite a few."

"Who do you think?" Kensi huffed. "Look at this." She slammed a mug onto Callen's desk. "This is your mug, right?"

Callen flipped the file closed and inspected the mug in question. "Lancaster took it?" he asked as he peered inside. "Sam, he's got your keychain." Callen pulled out a clay heart with the word "Daddy" carved across.

"And he took my make-up brush," Kensi said, holding it up.

"How do you know that's yours? It could belong to any of the female agents that he hits on," Sam said pointedly as he reattached his keychain to his key ring.

"Because," Kensi said as she turned the brush handle up, "this isn't an ordinary brush." She held it out for both men to see and with the push of an invisible button, a small blade shot out of the handle.

"Wow," Sam said. "Where'd you get that?"

"It was a gift from Hetty," Kensi said, retracting the blade. "It's proven useful on occasion."

"This is enough to file a grievance," Callen said. "I mean, he may not lose his job because of his uncle's clout but it's nice to have a paper trail."

"I say we ship his ass off to DC like Sam suggested," Kensi grumbled. She put the make-up brush in its case, put it in her backpack, and locked the whole thing in her desk's bottom drawer.

"Then we have to get used to a whole new person," Callen half-whined.

"I don't care," Kensi snapped as she began stapling her reports together. "Anyone is better than Lancaster." She made a gagging noise as she said his name to further express her distaste for the man (_As if he could ever be considered a man_, she thought. _He's more like a spoiled princess than anything else._). "I'd love to have Deeks back here as much as you guys-"

"Maybe more," Sam whispered inaudibly to Callen who tried to hide his smirk behind the folder.

"But until this asinine, bureaucratic shit-storm blows over..." Kensi let her voice trail off and let out a sigh. "Hetty said it's going to take time to get him back." At that moment, Kensi's phone vibrated and she brought up the text message.

_Not gonna make it to breakfast for a while. Going UC. I promise I'll make it up to you ;-)_

Kensi half-frowned, half-smiled at this text message. On the one hand she was disappointed they wouldn't be able to have their weekly breakfasts but, she was glad he thought to tell her before he locked his personal phone away and replaced it with a burner.

_You better. Be safe. We want you back in one piece._

"Was that Deeks?" Sam asked with a grin.

"How did you know?" Kensi asked, trying her best to wear a neutral expression.

"You get this look when he texts you," Sam said. "It's a good look. Happy, almost."

"I do not," Kensi protested.

"It's like a smile but, you look kind of constipated at the same time," Callen elaborated.

"Nah, not constipated. It's kind of like when you get hit by a cloud of someone's cologne or perfume when they wear too much."

"Are you two finished?"

Sam and Callen glanced at each other. "Never," they sniggered in unison.


End file.
